We left, made a few stops for a few provisions and were on our way. 60 kilometers on the way, Chirag’s car started acting up. The boys managed to get it going again, but another 15 minutes and the problems started again. They decided to be gentlemen and asked me to join the rest of the girls in the other car. Amit would drive us to Sayla and would come back for the other 2 boys if the problems continued.
Another hour and we reached our destination; “The Old Bell Guest House”. Interestingly, this place must me 1 kilometer or less from the main highway, but the minute you drive in there, you hear nothing. They have these lovely lands with greenery and fields all around.
We parked at the end of the drive way and were waiting for word that our rooms were ready. There are some swings and seats cut from old tree barks, so that’s where we sat enjoying the surroundings.
We were shortly shown to our rooms, they were the first 2 rooms on the upper level of this old two storey building. Entry to the rooms was from this long running balcony. Once in, it was like stepping a little back in time. The rooms were done up simply but very tastefully, with wooden floors, large enough to accommodate 5 people comfortably, decent sized dressing rooms that opened out onto smaller balconies at the back. For a luxurious stay, all rooms have 24 hour cable tv, spilt air conditioners and hot and cold running water.
The room we girls chose was the first one and it had this adorable quaint wooden balcony on a third side. A lovely place to pull up a lazy chair and read for a while.
Since this place caters to a very small number of people (it has a total of 10 rooms of which 1 room is occupied by the owners of the hotel), they are very flexible in their services. We requested lunch at 3.00 pm and they were happy to do this. Till then we played some music and chatted; basically relaxed. It was around this time that Niral finally joined us.
Lunch was a nice homely affair with good food and lots of laughs. Post this everyone got into a gaming mood. The boys played volleyball till they realized that on a full stomach, physical exertion in the sun ain’t a good idea.
Some played chess on the big outdoor chess board, some played carom; one decided to pit his wits against a computer game while one decided to take pictures of the rest. The fact that I am in none of the pictures should tell you who that last one is. Then there was a horse for rides. It had a darling little foal following it around, feeding any chance it got.
Before you knew it evening was upon us and the photographer, yes me, got tired of all the clicking. The game of chess was getting more intense and for those like me who don’t understand head or tail of the game, time was a wasting. The grounds were wonderful to go for a walk and that’s what I did.
At some stage chess was abandoned and we geared up for a night of partying. Lots of music, good f & b and a wild game of dumb charades were the order of the day. Dinner was a late night affair. Again the owners were gracious enough to serve hot food to us in the middle of the night. Maybe saying us is a little out of sync, since I wasn’t there. At some point a little earlier I decided that I had had enough and went to the room to sleep.
When the rest came up, they decided that waking me up made some sense (wonder why that didn’t occur to them at dinner), once awoken I couldn’t go back to sleep. The four of us who were awake (Niral, Inderjit, Chirag and Me) settled down to play a game of phase 10 (if you haven’t played this game, you have been missing something).
Being awake till the wee hours of the morning does lead some people to mischief, the more juvenile the better. The recipient of this wasn’t very thrilled, needless to say. It was around 6.30 when we finally slept.
The next day…
It started for me at 9.30 with Amit hovering around like a house fly. I gave up on trying to go back to sleep and got dressed instead. It took a few hours for the rest to rouse themselves, get dressed, etc. Another round of phase 10 accompanied breakfast. At the end of all this it was nearing lunch time.
Another delicious meal and then we were ready to head back home. This time I drove back with Niral, since he had come alone. The other 3 girls were with Amit and Inderjit and Chirag were going to take it easy coming back in Chirag’s car, to ensure that it got back safely to Ahmedabad.
Since Niral decided to take it easy and drive leisurely, it took just over 2 hours for us to get back. It was a thoroughly pleasant drive and with that ended our weekend jaunt.
While settling the bill, we realized how reasonable the trip had turned out to be. Many thanks to Chirag for setting things up for us and to the owners of ‘Old Bell’ – Somraj and Preeti Chudasma for being such wonderful hosts. It’s definitely a place visiting again, and I think we all agree that we will go back soon.
